


Laid Bare

by kethni



Series: Bad Things [5]
Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M, request fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 09:32:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10568541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: Youthful indiscretions can come back to haunt anyone...





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Intronerd - I hope you enjoy it!

Something was wrong, she knew it in her fucking bones. The aftermath of her inauguration had been kinda rough on him, she knew. The full bore of the fourth estate was a trial even for attention whores, and Christ knew Kent sure as shit was as far from that as possible while still being in the public eye.

Everyone had agreed there’d be no interviews, from either of them. Him just because he was Kent and Selina because she didn’t want petty personal shit to define her presidency.

The news channels had resorted to digging up the scant public footage of him that was available. Mostly dull as dishwater stuff from inquiries. Even as Selina’s campaign manager he hadn’t gone in for public statements. There were a few scattered bits and pieces at rallies, or conferences, and some enterprising asshole found shaky footage of Kent at his sister Skye’s third wedding. Selina was amused at the grainy footage of a clearly slightly Kent, his tie loose and his jacket off, dancing with a woman that she didn’t recognise.

They kept running the inauguration footage and the Rose Garden shooting. Jesus, the internet had gone apeshit when they realised it was the same guy. There had been memes. While Selina had already had her baptism of fire, it was new to Kent. His disgust at the shooting being somehow _romantic_ was palpable. Selina had some sympathy for the idea. She was pretty sure that Kent’s issue wasn’t the specifics or what they were doing, just the idea of being associated with something that sentimental.

Even so, something else, something more, was bugging him. She waited a few days, and then a week, for him to spill his guts. But Kent was Kent, and she thought he wouldn’t volunteer he had a headache even if he’d been shot in the head.

She sauntered into his office and pitched a screwed-up piece of paper at him. The two female interns who were working with him, goggled at her. One of them covered her mouth with her hands. Judging by the way her shoulders shook it was less shock and more giggling.

‘Groupies, out,’ Selina said, jerking a thumb at the door.

‘Wait outside,’ Kent said to them. ‘We aren’t done.’

They gathered up mounds of documents and scooted outside. Fuck.  She couldn’t close the door. Within thirty seconds, people would be claiming they were fucking on his desk. Okay, they had done that, but never in the middle of a working day and with interns right outside.

Kent was looking at her with a pinched expression that she knew meant he was pissed.

‘Quick question,’ she said, tapping her knuckles on the desk. ‘Is whatever has crawled up your ass and died a personal thing we can talk about tonight or a work thing we should talk about after the strategic deployment meeting?’

Colour rose in his cheeks.’ Nothing has –’

‘Binary choice, Kent,’ she said. ‘Personal or professional?’

He looked away. She heard him sigh.

‘Both, but the larger issue is professional.’

‘After the meeting, then.’ she said.

For a second she was sure he was gonna argue, but he nodded instead.

‘Yes, Ma’am.’

‘Good boy.’

***

She wasn’t hugely worried, all told. He wasn’t stressed out enough for it to be something that would bring down the administration and it wasn’t like he’d been selling contacts to lobbyists or had a secret wife and kids. If he had, the NSA investigation would be turned it up. In fact they hadn’t found much of anything, which was a small relief to Selina and a minor disappointment to Ben. Not that she expected anything shocking. Kent had his weird quirks, the motorcycle club for one, but he wasn’t a crook like Andrew or so stupid that he thought being fat made you literally evil. Jeez, what had she been thinking dating Ray?

***

Kent waited after the strategic deployment meeting without her prompting him. Sue gave them a tart look as she left, but that was Sue.

Selina took off her glasses and put them carefully on the coffee table. ‘Okay, let’s hear it. Financial scandal. Treason. A long affair with Michelle Pfeiffer. Spill.’

‘Nude photographs,’ Kent said.

Selina waited but that was it. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

He licked his lips. ‘I may have mentioned that in college I stayed in privately rented accommodation with a number of female students.’

‘And Richard Gauden,’ Selina said. ‘Ben made a lot of jokes about lesbian sororities.’

Kent dismissed both comments with a wave of his hand. ‘The rent was in the name of an art student, these days she calls herself Huntress Hawk.’

Selina snorted. ‘That fucking poser. Catherine dragged me to a couple of her exhibitions. Naked people, wow. How edgy and original. Plus, I heard she’s actually from Rhode Island and her family are Irish.’

Kent nodded. ‘Yes. Brian and Trish.’

‘Did she photograph that time you let Gauden suck you off?’

Kent shook his head. ‘That might actually garner some benefits. Given the relative lack of openly LBGTQ+ members of the administration having someone, anyone, open up about exploring their sexuality would doubtless please campaigners.’

Selina raised her eyebrows. ‘Are ya volunteering?’

‘No.’

‘There’s a shocker.’

Kent pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Meg, that’s the name I primarily knew her by –’

‘Meg!’ Selina cackled. ‘That’s great! I can’t wait to tell Catherine. Okay, go on. Meg...’

He frowned at her. ‘She had to produce work to be graded but she had little money to hire models and few friends. She made continuing on in the accommodation dependant on an modelling for her. Hence my reluctant involvement.’

Selina sat up straighter. ‘You appeared in arty naked photos?’

‘…Yes.’

‘Wow,’ Selina said. ‘Why haven’t I heard of this before?’

‘Because we only agreed they would be used for her college work,’ Kent said. ‘Legally she’s not allowed to sell or exhibit them.’

‘I bet she loved that.’

‘Hmm.’ Kent played with his cell. ‘She is bitter and has tried to persuade us to allow their use in retrospectives, to no avail.’

Selina sat back. ‘Do ya have copies?’

‘Yes, but that’s not relevant.’

‘Hey, buster, I’ll decide what’s relevant. Can’t decide how bad this is until I see them can I?’

‘You’re enjoying this,’ he said flatly.

‘Kinda,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Ya were cute back then, and ya look pretty good naked now. Back then ya must’ve been hot stuff.’

His face flushed and he looked away. ‘I fear you may be disappointed.’

‘Made ya blush too, Selina said. ‘Look, you’re getting an injunction, right?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘But I’m not sure she won’t leak some anyway.’

‘You’re a man, nobody judges men for that shit. Plus, it was what, forty years ago? It’s art. This won’t ruin ya, Kent. Unless there’s kids or animals or something?’

‘No!’ He held up his hand. ‘No. Apologies. Some simulate sexual acts but that was the girls, unless you consider being aggressed by a woman to be sexual.’

Selina grinned. ‘Pretty sure _you_ do.’

***

She wondered, for maybe five minutes, if she’d been unfair or too flippant. But it wasn’t the same for him as it would’ve been for her. Yet again, men had it easier. And Huntress Hawk was a well-known artist, extreme in her erratic opinions. Kent had helped her out and she was trying to humiliate him, either for a grudge or to get publicity. Maybe both. People would see that.

She wondered if Gauden had a set of the photographs. Probably not, or the temperamental asshole would probably have published them already.

Selina tracked down Catherine, batting her eyes at Marjorie. Bluegh, public displays of affection.

‘Sweetie,’ Selina began. ‘Can we... actually you might be able to help too, Marjorie.'

She came to attention. ‘Yes Ma’am.’

‘Do you know that artist, Huntress Hawk?’ Selina asked.

‘Of course!’ Catherine said. ‘She’s amazing!’

A flash of distaste crossed Marjorie’s face. Huh. Interesting.

Selina clasped her hands together. ‘Do you know anything about her before she was young? Like in college?’

‘You mean the stalking?’ Marjorie asked. ‘She stalked one of the students she lived with. It went on for months.’

‘Oh.’ Selina nodded. ‘I didn’t know that.’

‘That can’t be true,’ Catherine said. ‘There must’ve been a misunderstanding.’

‘Thousands of photographs worth,’ Marjorie said. ‘In the bath. Watching movies. In class.’

Catherine sagged. ‘That’s horrible.’

Selina licked her lips. ‘Do you know anything about male students she photographed?’

They looked at each and shrugged.

‘I’ve never seen any,’ Catherine said. ‘The early stuff isn’t shown a lot. There’s legal issues I think.’

‘And they’re probably terrible,’ Marjorie said.

‘People say she peaked in the mid-nineties,’ Catherine said. ‘That was her best.’

Marjorie looked at Selina. Despite being as expressive as a block of stone, Selina could still see the phrase “her best is terrible” stamped on Marjorie’s face.

Selina texted Kent on her way back to the Oval Office: _2 night, want to see ALL the fotos.’_

He didn’t reply, but she was passing his office and heard his groan.

***

Selina was in the shower when he entered the residence. He called, she answered, and after a few minutes he entered the bathroom, the shower, and her.

Selina closed her eyes and lifted up her face, letting the water pour down. She loved this: the warmth of the steamy water, the feel of his body, and the strength of his arms holding her up.

Afterwards she let him have a bit of quiet time while she had a glass of whiskey. Then she googled around on his tablet. Hers was so tightly secured that she could barely play solitaire on it. She definitely couldn’t amuse herself by googling for dirty pictures that people had photoshopped to look as if Kent was one of the participants. There weren’t many, but they were hilarious. Most of them were clearly young guys, but that wasn’t nearly as egregious as the abs and gleaming, hairless skin. Kent wasn’t a bodybuilder for fuck’s sake. He had a leanly muscular build, like a runner maybe. He had a thatch of salt and pepper chest hair that thinned down to a single trail down his belly and into his crotch. She had a lot of affection for that trail of hair. It was soft and downy, and slicked to his skin when she followed it with her tongue.

The mattress shifted as Kent rolled over. He ran his fingers along Selina’s calf.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

‘Looking up, oh, sexy photoshops of you,’ she said. ‘They all have giant muscles and tiny dicks.’

He looked at her blankly. ‘Steroids do that,’ he said.

‘No wonder those weirdos are always angry.’

‘Why are you doing that?’

She shrugged. ‘Figured it’d be an interesting contrast with real pictures of your naked body.’

He sat up. ‘If our positions were reversed then you would rightly furious.’

Selina rolled her eyes. ‘It’s different. You’re not judged on how fuckable you look.’

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘But surely the answer to sexualisation of women is to stop it happening, not to do it to men equally.’

‘Jesus, sometimes you’re so fucking naive it’s amazing.’

‘I don’t have to take your abuse out of work hours,’ he said, but he didn’t move.

Selina ran her fingers through his hair. ‘Your way is difficult and no fun. My way is easy and lots of fun.’

Kent grunted. ‘And slowly our weak grasp on civilisation slips.’

‘Yeah probably,’ she said carelessly. ‘Ya need a hair cut.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, Ma’am.’

She gently prodded his knee with her foot. ‘I’m ready to look at some shockingly offensive photographs.’

‘It’s not pornography,’ he protested.

‘Don’t ruin it for me,’ she grumbled.

He growled softly as he got up, and she gave him a look that let him know it had a completely unintended effect.

‘You’re incorrigible,’ he said.

‘I’ve got a large appetite and I’m not afraid to eat,’ she said, waggling her eyebrows. ‘These days that makes me a feminist icon.’

‘I would have thought being president did that,’ he said, heading to the door. ‘Being honest and unembarrassed about your sexual desires seems like a depressingly low bar.’ He slipped out of the door.

‘For a man, sure,’ Selina yelled. ‘For generations of women it was goddamn Everest!’

While he was out of the room, Selina poured them both a drink. She handed it to him when he returned.

‘Presidency is an insanely high bar,’ she said to him.

Anyone else would have needed a second to recall the conversation. ‘Surely the bar for “icon,” should be high,’ he said. ‘Whatever the particular flavour.’

‘You and your logic,’ she grumbled. ‘Come show me your dirty pictures.’

He had them in several binders, because of course he did.

‘The ones that Meg has are significantly larger,’ he said, sitting on the bed next to her. ‘These are copies.’

The first photograph was a close-up of Kent’s face. His hair was short and his hair was brushed across his forehead.

Selina whistled. ‘Look how pretty ya were.’

He groaned softly, closed his eyes, and lifted his face to the ceiling. The next few shots were full-length pictures of a group of people. All of them young and all dressed.

Then the good stuff. They started with classical artistic poses, then ridiculous satires on romantic scenes: a woman in an exaggerated shocked pose while Kent apparently proposed marriage or declared love. That sort of thing.

‘Jeez,’ Selina said. ‘Marjorie said that Hawk’s stuff was terrible. She wasn’t wrong.’

‘She believes art is a medium of political revolution,’ Kent said dryly. ‘It makes for muddled politics and creatively barren art.’

‘Whoa!’ Selina leaned over to get her glasses. The picture was a full-frontal nude of Kent, tied to a pillar, while two female models stood at either side holding plastic swords. ‘What the actual fuck?’

Kent opened an eye to see what she was looking at. He grunted. ‘It’s supposed to imply Saint Sebastian. Be glad she abandoned her first idea to have them poking me with them, and that Richard and I refused to countenance her second.’

Selina sniggered. ‘Go on.’

‘That _he_ would be poking me. Not with a toy weapon.’

She turned the page over. ‘I’m surprised he wasn’t up for that. See what I did there? Up for it?’

Kent frowned. ‘He was twenty-one. He was barely out and had little romantic experience. The object of his affection was unable to return his feelings and Meg wanted to make it the butt of a joke. A joke she would capture on camera and show to her tutor and classmates.’

Selina pulled a face. ‘When you put it like that...’

‘You didn’t know the context,’ Kent said. ‘Meg did.’

‘Marjorie said she was stalking someone?’

Kent frowned. ‘You mean Emma? She was a sweet girl but she didn’t have an issue with Meg’s behaviour until after they parted ways and she started dating someone else.’ He shrugged. ‘I like Emma a great deal and I dislike Meg, nonetheless neither is all good or all bad. Like everyone else.’

‘Well that’s no fun,’ Selina said, nudging his arm with her elbow.

‘The rest of the photographs are much the same,’ he said.

She was pretty sure that he was trying to put her off going further. ‘Oh yeah?’ she turned the page and grinned at a picture of him knelt before a chaise. There was a pretty blonde girl in a red silk shirt, and nothing else, sprawled on the chaise.

‘Look at your peachy little ass,’ Selina said gleefully. ‘Stand up. I wanna compare this picture to the real thing.’

He scowled at her. ‘Are you finished with the photographs?’

‘Fuck no. I’m loving the ropes and chains and you grovelling.’

Kent rolled his eyes. ‘I would have thought that you get enough of grovelling during work.’

‘Yeah, but it’s not that same. Other people are around and, you know, you’re not naked.’

‘Nude,’ he corrected.

Selina cocked her head. ‘You say that like there’s a difference.’

‘Nude merely means unclothed, and suggests a deliberate choice to reveal oneself. Nakedness implies vulnerability and exposure,’ Kent said. ‘In the photographs, I’m nude. At the moment, I’m naked.’

‘And the world thanks ya for it.’ She grinned. ‘When ya finish slapping down Hawk with injunctions and whatever, remind me to buy some piece of hers.’

‘Dear Lord, why?’

She weighed the binders in her hands. ‘I’m enjoying these too much not to thank her one way or another.’

 


End file.
